Disclaimer: these characters are not mine – they belong to JK Rowling

AN: Another chapter of our favorite Tomione soap opera! I hope you all enjoy this chapter, I know it's bit of a cliffy, but I'll be updating this again quickly...already working on the next chapter. Beware there is more smut in this chapter.

~~{0}~~

Harry took a deep breath as he walked through the library towards the table that Dorea was already seated at.

"Hey" he said as he slipped into the seat across from her

Dorea looked up at him and gave him a shy smile and blushing, "Hey yourself."

"What are you working on?" he asked trying to get a look at the texts that were spread out in front of her.

"The Transfiguration essay. I've almost finished. What about you?" she asked raising an eyebrow at him when she noticed he hadn't any books on the table in front of him.

"Oh…uh…I haven't started my essay yet." Harry said awkwardly and pulled out his Transfiguration book, a roll of parchment and a quill.

"Did you need help with it?" Dorea asked, wondering why Harry had asked to study with her in the library.

"Oh…not really…I…um…" he stammered wanting to curse himself for being so pathetic around women.

"Well, if you don't need help, why did you ask me to study with you?" she asked bluntly, biting her lower lip to keep from laughing at his look of distress.

"I guess I just…Look, Dorea, do you…I mean, you don't have to say yes…" Harry rambled

"Harry, you're not making any sense. What is it you want to ask me?" Dorea said placing her hand over his on the table, causing his eyes to widen and his cheeks to turn red.

"Do you want to go to the ball with me?" He finally managed to ask

Dorea smirked, looking at him again, "Hmmm…What happened to your little Gryffindor?" She asked raising an eyebrow at him. She may not have been asked by anyone else to the ball yet, but she certainly wasn't about to play second fiddle to Effy Prewett.

"It...ah…didn't work out." Harry answered lamely, not wanting to say anymore than that.

"I'd say, she looked pretty distraught at breakfast." Dorea answered.

"Yeah, we just didn't have anything in common, I guess." Harry said dismissively, "So...you didn't say; will you go with me?"

Dorea gave a small smile and bit her lip again shyly, "I suppose. Under one condition…" Dorea said.

"Yeah? What's that?" Harry asked nervously, wondering what he had just gotten himself into.

"Since I know that you're only asking me to upset Effy, I want you to do something for me." She said evenly.

Harry swallowed thickly, "What?" he asked nervously

"I want you to pretend that you like me…really like me. It'll make Cygnus crazy." She said with a small smile that looked a little bit evil.

"Cygnus? You want to make Cygnus jealous?" he asked making sure he understood her request.

"Yes. We dated briefly last year, you see, before that slut Isadora Selwyn got her claws into him. Now I suspect she's set her sights on Tom, which is too bad for your sister, really…" Dorea said waving her hand dismissively, "But, he's been hinting around that he wants to get back with me now that she won't give him the time of day anymore. I however, have no intention of falling back into his arms so easily. I want him to know what it feels like." Dorea explained as she crossed her arms over her chest.

Harry looked at her in awe, "Wow, you really are a Slytherin." He said laughing.

"I'll take that as a compliment." She said smirking at him, "So do we have a deal, Harry?"

Harry smirked at her. Not only would this work out for effectively pushing Effy towards Fleamont, but he would be able to effectively piss off Lucius' father in law by 'fake dating' his mother in law. He really was going to enjoy this…

"Absolutely. It's a deal." Harry answered

~~{0}~~

"Tom, we're supposed to be working." Hermione said trying unsuccessfully to get him to focus on their Potions project, instead, he was distracting her by kissing her neck while she attempted to make notes in the small private study room Hermione had found in the library.

"I'm not stopping you" he mumbled against her neck as his hands began to travel south.

"Tom…" Hermione said in her bossy voice, and she felt his hands still on her thighs as he sighed against her neck and made a small noise of frustration

"What is the matter with you?" she asked turning her face to look at him.

He glared at her, and she could see a muscle twitching in his jaw as he suddenly grabbed her hand and placed it over his painfully hard erection.

"That is my problem. I've been in here looking at you with that skirt riding up your thighs while you blatantly ignore me doing your schoolwork for four hours…Four hours, Hermione." Tom said in frustration.

"We're in a library, Tom, what else should I be doing?" she said pulling her hand away from his crotch

He smirked, "Well, last time we were in the library together, we did quite a lot, none of which had anything to do with school." He said leaning towards her again.

She placed a finger over his lips to stop him before he could start kissing her again, "I'm almost finished, I only have one more essay…"

"Hermione…" He growled in frustration

She bit her lips to keep from laughing at his distress, "Maybe a cold shower will help?" she offered

He looked at her and then an idea came to him, and the smirk that spread across his face was positively evil.

Hermione looked at him and immediately knew she was in trouble.

He leaned into her, brushing his lips against her ear, and began to hiss sensually in Parseltongue.

Hermione's eyes began to roll back and her breath hitched. He had found her weakness. Hearing him speak Parseltongue was the key to opening the chamber of secrets; her chamber of secrets.

"That's cheating…" She mumbled as she turned, straddling his lap and kissing him for all she was worth, the Potion's essay temporarily forgotten.

She ground herself against him, feeling his erection straining against her already damp cotton knickers, and he groaned as she rolled her hips against his. He flicked his wand towards the door to the study room, warding it and placing a silencing charm around the room nonverbally, as her hands moved to his belt. She moaned when she felt his teeth graze her throat and his hands took over as he freed his cock from his pants, and pushing her knickers aside as he sunk into her. She inhaled sharply and bit down on her bottom lip when she felt his cock slide into her and her walls tightened around him. She kissed him hungrily as she rode him, winding her arms around his neck for support as he thrust up into her relentlessly.

"Mmmm…you like the way my cock feels inside you don't you, you mudblood whore…"

Hermione's eyes widened and she pulled back in shock to look at him, "What did you just say?!"

He stopped his movement, his cock still inside of her, "What?" he asked looking at her in confusion

"You just called me a mudblood whore, Tom, I heard you!" she said climbing off of him as he put himself back to rights.

"Hermione, I didn't mean…" he started to say before she rounded on him angrily

"Don't patronize me, Tom, I know what you meant. I honestly thought that you had changed. I can't believe I was so stupid." She spat as she shoved him away from her and grabbed her books that were still laying on the table before she pointed her wand at the door to lift the ward.

"Hermione…" he called after her as she stormed out of the room, without a backwards glance.

He dropped his head into his hands and sat there for a moment trying to get himself under control, when he heard someone call his name.

"Tom? Are you okay?"

Tom looked up to see Isadora standing in the doorway to the study room Hermione had just stormed out of a few minutes earlier.

"I'm fine." He said as he stood up to leave when Isadora strolled up to him and boldly placed her hand on his chest.

"Tom, I…You know I really like you…" she said as she leaned into him and kissed him

He was so angry with himself and at Hermione for the way she had just stormed off without giving him a chance to explain, that Isadora's kiss had caught him off-guard. In that moment, he wanted to erase what he felt towards Hermione, because being hurt meant that he cared, and caring was a weakness. Lord Voldemort didn't have weaknesses. He slid his hand up and tangled it in Isadora's hair as he kissed her back when he heard a gasp from the doorway.

Tom's eyes opened slowly to see Hermione standing frozen in the doorway as she watched him. He broke the kiss, looking at her expressionlessly, as Isadora turned towards the door to see what he was looking at.

"What are you staring at, Mudblood?" she said nastily to Hermione as her hand slithered up Tom's chest.

Hermione's chin quivered as she tried hard to hold back the tears of betrayal. She had come back for two reasons; she had forgotten one of her books in her haste to get away from him, and also, because a part of her, no matter how pathetic she felt it might be, wanted to actually hear what had caused him to say something so awful to her. But now, seeing him standing there with Isadora in his arms, she realized that he must have truly meant it; he only saw her as a mudblood whore. For the second time Hermione fled the library, she didn't look back, because she didn't want him to see the unshed tears in her eyes, threatening to fall as she ran away from him. He didn't try to stop her, which made it that much worse.

Without thinking, she ran up the stairs as fast as she could to the seventh floor corridor, and paced back and forth in front of the wall thinking of somewhere quiet that she could be alone. When she opened the door, the sight that greeted her almost made her knees buckle; it was her old bedroom at her parent's house, just as she remembered it. She closed the door behind her, dropping her bag by the door and collapsed on the bed. She finally let the tears fall that had been threatening to spill, and now that she was alone, she sobbed into her pillow. She knew better than to get involved with Tom Riddle, knowing who he was and what he would become, but inexplicably, she was drawn to him like a moth to a flame. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't make the tears stop coming, and eventually, she fell into an exhausted sleep.

~~{0}~~

The next morning, Harry made his way to the Great Hall and took his usual seat at the Slytherin table across from Tom. Hermione was noticeably absent.

"Where's Hermione?" Harry asked, assuming Tom would know since they were together more often than not.

He looked up at Harry sharply and spat, "I'm not her keeper, Jones."

Harry furrowed his brow. Hadn't she told him that they were together?

"I thought…" Harry began before Tom cut him off sharply.

"What Hermione does is none of my concern." He spat acidly.

Harry scowled. Clearly something had happened to Hermione, and he was already trying to wash his hands of it.

"What did you do to her, Riddle…" Harry spat in low voice.

Tom met his gaze evenly and then flicked his eyes to the doors to the great Hall. Harry followed his gaze and looked over his shoulder to see Hermione hurrying into the hall, keeping her eyes trained on her feet. As she approached the table, Tom stood abruptly and left. Harry looked back and forth between them in confusion and when Hermione finally sat, he asked her what that was all about.

"What happened?" he asked in a low voice so that no one else would hear.

"It's over between us, you were right all along, Harry. I should have listened to you." Hermione said softly, still not able to meet Harry's eyes.

Harry looked at her in confusion, "What did he do to you, Hermione?" Harry said in a dangerous tone.

"Harry, please…don't." she pleaded.

"Tell me, Hermione, What did he do?" Harry said angrily, making it clear that he wanted answers.

"He said something to me that I got upset about, and I left, but I came back a few minutes later to discuss it after I had calmed down a bit, only to find him kissing Isadora Selwyn." Hermione said, her gaze flicking over to the Ravenclaw table to glare at the girl in question.

"That son of a bitch. Right…" Harry said standing from the table as Hermione looked up at him in surprise, her eyes still red and puffy from crying.

"What?! Harry, No…" She pleaded as Harry stormed out of the Great Hall after Tom.